Employers have no shortage of prospective employees in this economy. In order to determine the best candidates, it is not uncommon for employers to run background checks. Employeescreen.com reported that there may be some debate over the impact of these checks: “it’s argued by employers that conducting criminal background checks assists in ultimately ensuring a safer work environment for everyone, reducing negligent hiring and criminal activity in the workplace. From the EEOC’s perspective the increase in criminal background checks for employment could cause discrimination in the hiring process.”

11% of positions where state law requires it (day care, medical practitioner)

9% of positions with security responsibilities (security guards)

8% of positions involving national defense

5% of positions that involve safety (transportation operation)

3% of positions that involve contact with children and elderly

When Michael Eastman, (Executive Director of the Labor Law Policy with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) was asked about when credit checks were performed, he explained, “Different components of applicant background checks occur at different stages in the hiring process. Some employers may check references before an initial interview, some may do so afterward but before creating a final list of candidates. However, as I understand, most employers do not request credit history until the last stage of the hiring process. In other words, employers are not using credit history to compare the credit worthiness of several possible applicants. Instead, they are requesting credit history and potentially other information, on individuals that they are otherwise prepared to hire.”

In an attempt to understand intelligence, researchers have once again focused their attention on Albert Einstein’s brain. A study published in a recent issue in the Journal Brain disclosed some new insight as to what made Einstein so intelligent. In the Red Orbit article Photos of Einstein’s Brain Reveal Areas That May Have Made Him A Genius, Anthropologist Dean Falk from the Florida State University explained, “The overall size and asymmetrical shape of Einstein’s brain were normal. [But] the prefrontal, somatosensory, primary motor, parietal, temporal and occipital cortices were extraordinary. These may have provided the neurological underpinnings for some of his visuospatial and mathematical abilities, for instance.”

There have been 14 new photos found of Einstein’s brain that have been evaluated. The USA Today article Einstein’s Brain: It Was Better Than Yours, explained, “After the photos were taken, the brain itself was cut into 240 separate blocks for analysis, most of which remain at the University Medical Center in Princeton, N.J., where Einstein’s brain was taken after he died.”

In 2009, Odyssey reported that the reason for Einstein’s intelligence may be due to an increase in glia cells. “Glia help neurons by giving them nutrients and by cleaning up after the mess neurons make when they do their work. Neurons can make electrical signals because they are tiny batteries. Just as in a flashlight battery, the voltage in a neuron is generated by a special salt solution. When a neuron fires an electric pulse, sodium, which is the positively charged partner of the salt known as sodium chloride, flows into the neuron.”

Einstein died from a ruptured aneurism in 1955. He was 76. An autopsy was performed in Princeton Hospital. According to the Einstein Quarterly article A Brief History of Einstein’s Brain, “Einstein’s brain weighed 1230 grams, well within the range of 1200-1600 grams that is normal for a human male.” Einstein never gave approval to study his brain. Permission came from his family once they were made aware that his brain had been removed and preserved.

The brain is often described in sections, referred to as Brodmann’s areas. Einstein’s Brodmann area 39 (part of the parietal lobe) showed a statistically significant difference from the average brain. The parietal lobe may be an important indicator of intelligence. The latest research has discovered some differences in Einstein’s frontal lobe as well. To find out more about the importance of this lobe, check out the Nova video at the end of this article.

Some interesting things about Einstein include: He had dyslexia as a child; he figured out the theory of relativity in his 20s, he played the violin, and Einstein had an IQ of 160.

Can’t help it but I think despite Einstein’s brilliance, he couldn’t stop people from using his brains after his death. I think it’s cruel on the genius. I like his ideas on governance, education and humanity as a whole. But I certainly don’t like the idea of people disrespecting a great man’s wishes.

QuantMethod is a site that offers ways to help companies market to customers based upon understanding their personality type. The Quant Method assessment puts people into 1 out of 4 categories. According to their site, these types include:

Thinker – “The Thinker likes facts, details, proven examples and is highly organized. Their approach to business is thoughtful, logical and analytical.”

Mastermind – “Masterminds are characterized by a more assertive approach to business. They tend to be fast-paced, results-oriented and get right to the point. They are efficient, logical and task-oriented.”

Olympian – “The Olympian personality type is characterized by an expressive, aggressive approach to business, and aspires to great heights because “everything is possible.” They are emotive and have an easy-going” love of life” approach in her personal dealings.”

Diplomat – “Diplomats are friendly, compassionate, “feeling” people that desire to contribute goodness to the lives of others. They are effective at doing this through their nurturing, insightful and encouraging nature.”

I took the test and I came out as a thinker. I assumed I’d either be that or a mastermind. The results don’t tell you how close you are to another personality type. The site claims that my results puts me into the same category as George Washington, Michael Caine, Donald Duck, Eliot Ness, and Johnny Carson. Hmmm … interesting group … especially Donald Duck. Apparently half of U.S. presidents are “thinkers”.

In the results, it listed tactics about how to appeal to this type of personality in terms of suggested sales tactics.

This company surveys customers to find out their personality type. They claim their instrument is similar to Myers-Briggs MBTI but with 1/6 the size. The thought process behind this business is that people like to deal with others that are on their same level of thinking.

Time Magazine article Get Personal with Marketing and Net More Sales reported that this Quant Method may be helpful because, “Knowing more about personality types can help you optimize email messages and websites to include specific landing pages with information that the four different personality types like in order increase conversion rates.”

While I find this to be an interesting way to market, it may be difficult to get people to respond to these assessments. When marketing to a large database, it is not feasible. I like the concept of targeting to the individual’s needs. The real trick would be to get people to actually take the assessment.

The Wall Street Journal recently listed some interesting statistics regarding entrepreneurs. Ewing Marion Kauffman’s data was used to create an infographic. According to the article By the Numbers: Taking the Measure of Entrepreneurs, the following gives more insight as to who becomes an entrepreneur:

Age – The average age for an entrepreneur is 40 years old.

Education – Over 95% of entrepreneurs hold a bachelor’s degree or higher and over 47% have advanced degrees.

Background – Over 71% came from the middle-class and 1% came from extremely rich or extremely poor backgrounds.

Funding – For 70% of entrepreneurs, the main source of funding came from savings.

Family – First borns accounted for over 42% of entrepreneurs. They had an average of 3 siblings. Just over half of them were the first in their family to start a business. Nearly 70% were married and nearly 60% had at least one child.

Success – When asked what entrepreneurs felt was important for success, 73% listed luck as an important factor.

Location – The highest numbers of entrepreneurs are in Arizona, Texas and California. The lowest numbers are in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Hawaii.

There is a unique way to look for meanings behind pictures on the Internet. By simply uploading an image into Images.google.com, the search engine can provide a list of places where that image was obtained. There are several other ways to find out more about images if you don’t want to upload the file. You can drag and drop an image into the search box, you can copy and paste the URL of an image and then click the camera icon on the Google images search line, or you can download the Chrome or Firefox extension and right-click an image to search for that image.

Think about going on a vacation, taking a picture and then uploading that image to find out more about the image. That is one of the things that this site claims can be accomplished. When I put in my Gravitar image, it worked well. However, I uploaded several vacation pictures to see what it would display. It did not give accurate information.

This has some interesting possibilities. Check out the following video for more information about searching images with reverse image search from Google: